August 14-21

This is the week in running starting last Friday with a 630am 12 mile run.  I ran with the girls from the Y, Andrea, Andrea, Lesley and Abby, and when I say ran with, I really meant ran behind.  Those girls are fast!  It was a good flat run through downtown to the edge of Iroquois Park and back.  I felt really good through the whole thing.
Keith and I ran after waterfront yoga 4 miles, another 5 for me the day after, a quick early morning foggy double loop around the park the following day (a little over 5)  then Saturday at 630 I met the girls for a ten mile run.  By the time we got halfway through the park, the rain started coming down pretty heavy.  A couple of ladies stopped dead in their tracks and one said "I did not sign up for this!" and they retreated to their cars.  The rain felt pretty good, and we had some tree cover in the park.  We ran for maybe three miles when the sky really opened with heavy rain, lightning and thunder and we were directly under the storm as it passed overhead.  We took shelter in a very nice man's garage and waited for the downpour to let up.  fifteen minutes later we continued our run, through the neighborhood, alongside the golf course, up hills (thanks Abby!) and down (the best part of the hills!) and down Trevillion toward Bellarmine.  We crossed Newburg Rd and into Joe Creason Park.  I've passed by the park thousands of times and never knew what a huge and gorgeous space was behind the line of trees.  The path we took went up the hill toward the zoo and back around for maybe a mile loop.  By the time we came down the hill the rain was coming down pretty hard and my shoes felt heavy like it was 1983 and I was running with ankle weights.  My fingers looked like I had been in the tub too long, and we were all soaked to the bone.  Up the hill past Bellarmine and back to the car for a little over ten miles.  By the time I made it home, showered and ready to go to work, the sun was out and the day was warming up.  After running in the heat and humidity of the summer, the rain was a refreshing change of pace and a good lesson to learn that the weather in a race can be unpredictable and to prepare for anything.
thanks to Andrea H for a good route, lots of hills and turns to keep it interesting and to all the girls for their encouragement.

I went out later that day and bought new shoes at Fleet Feet and they feel like running on little clouds.  I still can't bring myself to wear a water belt, so I compromised and got a small hand bottle.  Jon, B and I went to dinner after work, good pesto basil pasta and I had the idea that I would eat about half because I was running a short night race at 9.  I ate the whole thing with an hour to spare before the race.  We ran home and changed, then I met Keith, Keith's dad, Kim, Julie and Linda near the park for a three mile night race.  Despite tasting basil pesto the entire time and a bit sore from the mornings ten miles, I moved through the dark park at a pretty good clip.  Thanks to my training, flew past people on the up hill parts of the park.  I finished in 24 minutes and we celebrated sneaking beers in front of the cops at a table on the sidewalk.

It was a good day.

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